43b6d49e-c8e1-4ecf-bd4b-f8341d4bd681
urn:uuid
en
UTF-8
nonGeographicDataset
nonGeographicDataset
2025-06-23T04:09:51
creation
ISO 19115
2016
FPM Historical Floodplain Area (DWER-124)
43b6d49e-c8e1-4ecf-bd4b-f8341d4bd681
Historically, low-lying land adjacent to rivers and coastlines has been favoured for settlement as they provided sources of fresh water, food, transportation and waste disposal. These areas become affected by flooding during sufficiently heavy or prolonged rainfall, high tides or storm surges and cyclones. In the north-west of the State flooding is most likely to be caused by the summer monsoon or tropical cyclones while floods in the south-west are more likely to occur in response to heavy winter rainfalls.
While historical flood records and information extend as far back as 1830, detailed information on peak flood levels is typically limited to the last few decades.
This dataset shows the area of inundation (polygons), i.e., the floodplain area that has occurred during the major flood events in Western Australia.
Note: To see the full scope of the historical flood mapping, 3 dataset layers are required to be loaded in the following order:
FLOODPLAIN DATASET LAYERS:
FPM Historical Flood Levels (m AHD)
FPM Historical Extent of Flooding
FPM Historical Floodplain Area
The major flood events that are covered in this dataset are:
Bow Bridge Townsite (June 1988)
Corrigin Townsite (January 1982)
Esperance Townsite (January 2007)
Kupungarri to Willare (including Dales Yard & Mount Joseph gauging stations) - Fitzroy River (January 2023)
Lake Grace Townsite (January 2006)
Merredin Townsite (February 1979)
Perth (February 2017)
Tambellup Townsite (January 1982)
Warmun Aboriginal Community (March 2011)
York Townsite (July 2021, August 2022)
Other major flood events that have occurred in the past include:
Blackwood River (1945, 1955, 1963, 1964, 1982)
Collie River (1945, 1963, 1964, 1974, 1982)
Fitzroy River (1983, 1986, 1991, 1993, 2002, 2011)
Gascoyne River (1960, 1961, 1980, 1995, 2000, 2010)
Greenough River (1888, 1927, 1953, 1971, 1988, 1999, 2006)
Moore River (1934, 1955, 1961, 1995, 1999)
Murray River (1862, 1945, 1955, 1964)
Preston River (1964, 1967, 1974, 1983, 1990, 2011)
Swan River (1862, 1872, 1945, 1955, 1964, 1983)
The historical flood information is used in the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's floodplain management activities to ensure that floodplains are managed for the benefit of the whole community, minimising the risk and damages and protecting environmental values.
Floodplain mapping datasets and floodplain development strategies for rivers and major watercourses in Western Australia are also available from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
GLOSSARY:
<ul>
<li>
Annual exceedance probability (AEP) - the likelihood of occurrence of a flood of a given size or larger in any one year; usually expressed as a percentage.
</li>
<li>
1 in 100 AEP flood - this means that there is a 1 in 100 (or 1%) chance of a flow of this size or larger occurring in any one year. This flood has a 50% chance of being experienced at least once in a person's lifetime. The 1 in 100 AEP flood has been generally adopted in Australia and overseas as the basis for floodplain management planning.
</li>
<li>
Floodplain - the portion of a river valley next to the river channel which is covered with water when the river overflows its banks during major river flows. The term also applies to land adjacent to estuaries which is subject to flooding.
</li>
<li>
Australian Height Datum (AHD) - is a geodetic datum for altitude measurement in Australia. It was adopted in 1971 by the National Mapping Council as the datum to which all vertical control for mapping is to be referred. The datum is based on the mean sea level (1966-1968) being assigned the value 0.000m on the Australian Height Datum (AHD) at 30 tide gauges around the coast of the Australian continent.
</li>
</ul>
{"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[115.90754783300008, -34.971201132999965], [128.2348001690001, -34.971201132999965], [128.2348001690001, -16.71058599299994], [115.90754783300008, -16.71058599299994], [115.90754783300008, -34.971201132999965]]]}
115.90754783300008
128.2348001690001
-34.971201132999965
-16.71058599299994
Rivers Mapping
Rivers Monitoring
Rivers Research
Rivers Surveys
Water
FPM Historical Floodplain Area
documentDigital
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER)
Metadata Statement
TXT
Shapefile
documentDigital
This resource provides the latest snapshot of the dataset as a shapefile. Shapefiles can be opened in many spatial and non-spatial software packages. Note: When accessing this resource you will be prompted to signup for a free SLIP account.
SHP
File Geodatabase
documentDigital
This resource provides the latest snapshot of the dataset as a File Geodatabase. Note: When accessing this resource you will be prompted to signup for a free account.
FGDB
GeoJSON
documentDigital
This resource provides the latest snapshot of the dataset as GeoJSON. GeoJSON can be opened in many spatial and non-spatial software packages. Note: When accessing this resource you will be prompted to signup for a free account.
GeoJSON
Geopackage
documentDigital
This resource provides the latest snapshot of the dataset as a GeoPackage. Note: When accessing this resource you will be prompted to signup for a free account.
GeoPackage
Licence Agreement
documentDigital
DWER Active Acceptance Licence Agreement
PDF
Web Feature Service
documentDigital
Web Feature Service (WFS) provides an interface that allows requests for geographical features across the web using platform independent calls.
WFS allows a user to download and spatially analyse the features within a datset.
This service is aimed at advanced geographical information users, and will require access to geographical information system (GIS) software such as QGIS and ArcGIS.
WFS
ArcGIS Server Map Service
documentDigital
An ArcGIS Server Map Service offers access to a geographic dataset - such as a map or imagery - by providing a set of tiled images for use in web-based maps.
Depending on the capabilities enabled, this web service may also allow a client to dynamically draw, search, and query its features.
This service is aimed at advanced geographical information users, and will require access to geographical information system (GIS) software such as ArcGIS and QGIS.
API ArcGIS Server Map Service
Web Mapping Service
documentDigital
Web Map Service (WMS) is a standard protocol for serving georeferenced map images over the internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS database.
WMS allows a user to spatially visualise the dataset, and query individual features, but does not allow downloading the raw data.
This service is aimed at advanced geographical information users, and will require access to geographical information system (GIS) software such as QGIS and ArcGIS.
WMS